Twitter’s new CEO makes his mark with executive reshuffle

Dantley Davis, who ran Twitter’s design and research, is leaving the company, as is Michael Montano, the engineering lead, San Francisco-based Twitter said Friday in a regulatory filing. 

Three other Twitter executives are getting new “general manager” titles; the company previously called its top managers “vice president.” Kayvon Beykpour, the top consumer product executive, will become general manager for consumer products; Bruce Falck will be general manager for revenue products; and Nick Caldwell will become general manager for “core tech,” essentially replacing Agrawal, who was previously the company’s chief technology officer. 

The moves are part of an effort “to drive increased accountability, speed, and operational efficiency,” Twitter said in the filing.

The departures are effective Dec. 31 and both executives will remain advisers through the first quarter of 2022, the company said.

It’s not uncommon for companies to shuffle top executives after a CEO change. Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder who had been leading the social media service for the past six years, stepped down on Monday, citing a desire for Twitter to be “free of its founder’s influence or direction.” He still runs Block Inc., the payments and finance company formerly known as Square, which he also co-founded. 

Davis, who joined Twitter in mid-2019 after three years at Meta Platforms Inc., has been a controversial figure inside Twitter, with some employees telling the New York Times that his management style didn’t fit the company’s culture. On Thursday, Davis tweeted about an off-site event he held this week with his team, saying it was the “highlight of the past two years at Twitter.”